Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Twin Cities, MN

May 14, 2003Blue Earth County, Le Sueur County, Minnesota

NWS Twin Cities, MN issued this tornado warning at May 14, 2003, 2:48 PM CDT for Blue Earth County, Le Sueur County, Minnesota. It was in force for 27 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 14, 2003, 2:48 PM CDT (19:48 UTC)
Expired: May 14, 2003, 3:15 PM CDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Twin Cities, MN
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Blue Earth County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:51 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 75 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 579 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 29 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 71 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

117 
WFUS53 KMPX 141948
TORMPX
MNC013-079-142015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
247 PM CDT WED MAY 14 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE TWIN CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  LE SUEUR COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA
  BLUE EARTH COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL MINNESOTA

* UNTIL 315 PM CDT

* AT 246 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A STORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A
  TORNADO 5 MILES NORTHEAST OF MANKATO...OR JUST WEST OF MADISON
  LAKE. THE STORM WAS DRIFTING NORTH AT 5 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO INCLUDE...
  LAKE WASHINGTON.
  EAGLE LAKE.
  MADISON LAKE.
  RURAL AREAS NORTHEAST OF MANKATO.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR

LAT...LON 4414 9399 4414 9389 4428 9369 4433 9392
          4423 9400

$$
TDK

The office that day

Everything else NWS Twin Cities, MN issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 14, 1:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Blue Earth	27 min
May 14, 1:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Brown, Nicollet	47 min
May 14, 2:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Blue Earth	50 min
May 14, 3:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Blue Earth	38 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Minnesota, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.